Homelessness: the Mentally ill and on the street

Contents page 1 — Mentally ill and on the road page 2 — “The apartment no downed drinkers” page 3 — free How you can help the people anyway? On a page

Mr B., was born in the mid-seventies, grew up as an only child by his mother and her parents in the state of Hesse to read. Mr. B. has completed any vocational training. He was flown after school at home “out of it”. After that, he had spent more than a decade, alternately, on the street, in your own home or in facilities of the youth welfare. Later in Germany he had lived on the street, and in part in facilities of the homeless and, in part, in facilities for people with mental disorders. A Schizophrenia has been diagnosed with Simplex, in addition, a history of alcohol and other substance dependencies, still an anti-social personality disorder.

This abbreviated version of the case report comes from the catfish study, a study on the residents of the facilities of the apartment the help of Munich. And he suggests one thing: Mental illness and homelessness are interrelated. But how, exactly? Are homeless people more likely to be mentally ill than other people? And if so, makes life on the road you are sick or you’ll end up on the street because they are mentally ill?

Actually, little is known about the psychological Suffering of apartment is known. Not that you even know exactly how many homeless there are in Germany at all. Central statistics, only the Federal Association of assistance to the homeless (BAG W) are Numbers. These rough estimates come to 860.000 people who lived in 2016, without an apartment in Germany – and the trend is rising (see graph below). The vast majority of these people are housed in apartments or homes of social aid facilities. 52,000 people, however, the BAG W, the life estimates without any accommodation on the road. In fact, mostly men. However, there are also, and increasingly, homeless women, one in four people in need of assistance, are likely to be female. Thus, women are not just companions of homeless men, as it has been perceived for decades, often incorrectly.

Also how many of them are mentally ill, it is difficult to find out. Studies are rare and not representative. One of the few in-depth with the topic in Germany, the sea wolf study. She was looking for, what mental health problems 223 residents of facilities for the homeless in Munich, people like the aforementioned Mr. B. so, they had about life and what had led to the circumstances that they were homeless (catfish study: Bäuml et al., 2017).

The result: 93 percent of the respondents, 208 respondents were in your life once already mentally ill. 74 percent of treatment were the Doctors, even currently in need of. For comparison: In the General population is around 50 and 28 percent. About a third of the aid to the needy, due to lack of money to be homeless. Just under a fifth had lost shortly before roommate – for example, by separation or the death of a lifelong partner or partner and could no longer pay for his apartment alone.

More anti-social and narcissistic

The respondents but differed psychologically from other people, says Josef Bäuml, psychiatry Professor at the Klinikum rechts der Isar and the Director of the study: “We found that more than half live with one or more personality disorders, of which more than 40 percent meet the criteria for the Cluster B.” That is, they often behave anti-social, narcissistic, and suffer from strong emotional fluctuations or interact with other extremely self-centered. In the population average, this group makes up only a small part of about two percent.

Add to this that some of you might already started with a Handicap. “The average IQ in the catfish group was 84,” says Bäuml, which is significantly below the population average of 100.